How Do I Love Her
by Shining Zephyr
Summary: *HoratioYelinaStetler* Sequel to Somebody to Love. Rick finally snaps when he sees Horatio and Yelina together, and in his rage, a life is possibly paid. What breaking point will Horatio reach when his nephew is once again near death?
1. Love and Fear

**_A/N:_ I wanted to do a sequel to the first because I felt like I didn't get enough HoratioYelina in there. Yes, the evil, abusive boyfriend is back. And yes, Caine will beat him again. I think… **

**_DISCLAIMER:_ If CSI: ** **Miami**** was mine, Horatio and Yelina would be married, and Stetler would show up a lot more…

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1. Love and Fear

"Uncle Horatio!" Raymond Caine, Jr. yelled happily, running up to his uncle and hugging him. It was a warm Friday afternoon in Miami, Florida- a balmy eighty-six degrees. The boy's scars and bruises from last week were slowly disappearing. "You came over today!"

Lieutenant Horatio Caine smiled and picked him up, hugging him, too. "You feeling better, Ray?" he asked, referring to his wounds. It had been about a week after Ray had been ruthlessly beaten by his enemy, IAB Sergeant Rick Stetler. Luckily, he survived, and he had made it to the Crime Lab, where he made a new friend in Ryan Wolfe. And Horatio, in turn, went over to Yelina Salas's house and give Rick a piece of his mind.

Ray nodded and groaned. "Rick is coming over tonight. I don't know why she still likes him, though. After last week…"

"Ray. I want you to come over to my house tonight. You're not going to be here while Rick is here. Understand?"

Yelina Salas stood on the edges of the stairs, eyes widening. She had only seen her brother-in-law at work over the past week. He had seemed more… distant after the past confrontation between her boyfriend and him. She looked over at him flushed. "Hey, there."

"Hey," he replied. "How are you guys holding up?"

"We're fine," she replied, unconsciously moving her hand to her arm, trying to cover up a large bruise on her arm. It was another futile attempt to shield another wound of fear from her overprotective brother-in-law.

Unfortunately for her, Horatio had seen the mark and had put down Ray, Jr. He walked over to her and stared at the black and blue bruise on her arm. He looked back into her eyes with deep, penetrating blue eyes. "What is that?" he asked quietly.

She brushed some of her hair out of her face. "I hit my arm into the…"

The lieutenant just gave her a polite look.

She sighed, knowing that she couldn't hide the fact any longer. "He hit me two days ago, walking into the house with the broken nose _you_ gave him. If he hits me again…"

"You're going to all me," he finished.

She nodded, tears welling up in her eyes. "I'm so scared, Horatio. I've got no idea what he could do to me next."

He took her out into the living room next to the meeting area. Once they were alone, he pulled her into a deep hug. "You'll be fine. I promise. I'm always here."

There was a knock at the door. Ray opened it and stood, rooted on the spot in horror. He nearly began to yell, but something caused him not to make a sound.

Rick Stetler had knocked out Ray with a single blow to the head. His nose was still bandaged after last week's encounter with the brother-in-law of his girlfriend. And it still hurt like a mother. No doubt about it, but the kid got on his nerves more than his broken nose hurt. And he wanted nothing more than for him to shut up. "You can never keep your mouth shut, can you?" he grumbled, stepping over the unconscious child. "Especially when I'm here."

He walked into the living room, suddenly watching his girlfriend embracing his enemy. His blood began to boil as he slowly walked towards the couple, who were arm-in-arm for each other. "Having fun?" he whispered.

Yelina's eyes suddenly shot open, and she moved deeper into Horatio's embrace without taking her eyes off the abusive boyfriend. Horatio stood, rooted on the spot, hate swelling incessantly for the creep who stood in front of him, abusing the ones he cared about. "We are, Rick. Do you have a problem with that?"

"Why don't you ask Raymond?" the IAB agent smirked, pointing out to the hallway.

Suddenly, the lieutenant's eyes were shooting daggers at the other man, who was sniggering like he had just told a funny joke instead of saying that something could have happened to his nephew. "What did you do to him, Rick?" he growled, moving threateningly towards him.

"See for yourself," he replied, gesturing to the hallway.

Yelina tore out of Horatio's arms and ran to the room. She stiffened. "Oh, my god."

Ray laid on the floor, unconscious from the hit to the head, some blood on the floor. Horatio grabbed Rick by the neck. "You…you…"

Rick could only laugh like the sadist he was.

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**_A/N:_ Call me what you want, but I still wanted to leave it at a cliffhanger. Review, and get a free swing at the Stetler piñata head I've created. –holds out a bat- Who wants to go first? **


	2. He's My Son

_**A/N:**_** I can't believe I haven't updated this in a while. My sincere apologies.

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2. He's My Son

Yelina looked up at Horatio, grief-stricken. "You have your cell phone?"

He nodded and tossed it to her, still keeping a grip on Stetler's neck. "Hurry!"

She punched in the number and waited for the emergency hotline. Meanwhile, Horatio proceeded in holding his neck and gripped it even tighter. "You twisted fiend," he whispered. "I'm going to wring you out like a paper towel and rip you in two when I'm finished with your miserable self."

"When I tell IAB about this…" he began to choke out.

The grip tightened. "You might not be able to live and see those idiots when I'm through with you, Rick," he growled. "What did you do with him?"

He smirked. "I simply hit him in the head."

"You nearly beat the hell out of my nephew a week ago, and now you're trying to knock him dead… literally?" he whispered. "Nope, you're not going to be seeing Internal Affairs _any time soon."_

Yelina walked back over to them. "The paramedics are on their way here. So is Alexx. She wants to take a look at Ray sometime." She glared at Stetler hatefully. "What is your problem?!"

"Meaning?" he inquired mildly.

She slapped him out of sheer anger. He didn't move an inch. "_He's my son!_ Do you have no respect for him whatsoever?"

Rick looked thoughtful with Horatio's hand still on his neck. "Actually, I do. Unfortunately, it's in a completely different light. I admire for the fact that I don't have to take all my anger out on you and your beautiful face and body."

Horatio brought his knee up, and Stetler suddenly howled in rage and pain. He didn't smile. "That looked like it hurt, Rick."

"It did," he replied, teeth gritted.

The sound of the ambulance whirred outside, and Yelina ran out to greet the doctors. Horatio tightened the grip even more, given the fact that Stetler could now hardly breathe. "God, you are despicable. You'll be lucky Alexx only has one body to check, not two."

"Very funny," he choked out. "Get your filthy hands off of me." He brought his fist into Horatio's stomach with what little energy he had left and knocked the wind out of the lieutenant. Horatio let go of his neck and doubled over. Stetler wasted no time in bolting out of the room and pushing past the doctors.

Five of them rushed in and put Ray onto a stretcher. One strapped an oxygen mask to his face, and they pushed him out to the ambulance. Yelina rushed back in to see her brother-in-law nodding towards the vehicle. She nodded back and ran out.

Chief M.E. Alexx Woods immediately walked in afterwards and sighed. Following her was CSI: Ryan Wolfe, who had met Ray last week after the brutal child abuse attack on the boy. He took out his camera and glanced at his boss. "May I, in case…"

He nodded and glanced at Alexx, who was frustrated. "He's on his way to the hospital."

"And he's gonna stay there until that madman is caught," she snapped in return.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

As Ray was rushed into the emergency wing of the hospital, he opened his eyes looked up at the ceiling, wincing. He remembered seeing his father for the last time before going to a so-called "drug bust." Tears welled up as he thought of the conversation before he ran out the door…

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"_Where are you going, Daddy?"_

_A four year old Raymond Caine, Junior looked up at his father, who was running around the house. It was around nine A.M., and the house was already alive and bustling with his mom getting ready to go to work at the office. The boy's father was also rustling around and grabbed a gun from one of the locked drawers in the house. He looked at his son. "I have to go to work, buddy."_

"_Again?" he whimpered. "But… you're going to come home without any bruises tonight, right?"_

_Raymond blushed and brought the child into a bear hug. "Not tonight, Ray. I'll come home with nothing but my body and mind and another hug for you."_

_Yelina smiled and looked at the father-son duo. "You better get going, Raymond." She kissed her husband lightly._

_He grinned. "See you two tonight!"_

_That was the last time Ray ever saw his dad go out into the world…_

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"…Ray? Sweetie?"

He blinked blearily, realizing that his mother was standing over him in a hospital room. The white area had a window overlooking the city. There were various flowers in the room, mainly that of red and yellow. He groaned. Pain surged through his head, and tears stung his eyes once again. "How long have I been asleep, Mom?"

Yelina's eyes welled up as well. The door opened, and Horatio stepped in quietly, a bandage-list cast wrapped around his right hand. He saw Ray awake and motioned for her to finish. She nodded and looked back at Ray. "About a day, sweetie."

"Where's Uncle H?"

He walked over to his bedside and rubbed his hand, wincing. "Right here, buddy."

"What happened? Where's Rick?"

The lieutenant looked over at Yelina. She saw worry in his eyes, and in turn, it sent a powerful fear down her spine. He looked back at Ray, smiling slightly. "Rick is, um, not going to be seeing us for a while."

He nodded and fell back asleep.

Yelina walked over to Horatio and embraced him. "What's going on with Ray? And where is Rick?"

"I don't know," he admitted honestly. "I really don't know what's up with Ray, and I'm not sure where Rick is."

"He's my son."

"I know, Yelina. I know." As he said this, he pondered his feelings for this family of two. Should he tell her? Or should he go for Rick?

So many possibilities…

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_**A/N:**_** I found a Stetler chibi toy. Review, and get a free one, please and thank you! And this chapter was long…**


	3. Boundaries

**_A/N:_ I know I haven't updated this, but I'm working on it. Slight spoiler alert for 'Blood Brothers.'**

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3. Boundaries

Horatio glanced out the window and stared over at Ray's heart monitor. It was steadily decreasing, going slower and slower with each passing moment. At least it wasn't dropping drastically like a couple of hours ago. He feared the boy may have died right then if it kept going down like it already was.

Yelina, who was asleep in the chair a couple minutes ago, blinked blearily and looked at her brother-in-law. He seemed so concerned in her eyes right then. She worried for him. It was rare when he got a peaceful sleep these days, especially since last week's fiasco with Stetler. She couldn't believe what the… _bastard_ did to her son. As these thoughts raced through her mind, she was interrupted by a soft voice.

"…Yelina? Yelina?"

She blinked again and looked up, seeing Horatio looking over her carefully, guardedly. She sighed. "Horatio."

He walked over to her and sat on one of the chairs backwards, like he was talking to one of the victims of an awful crime. "I was, um, wondering something."

She sat up in her chair, realizing she was hurting her back in the process. "What?"

"Remember the boundaries that we once promised we wouldn't cross?"

Yelina smiled, recalling their conversation when Clavo Cruz was still free for murder…

…..

_He swallowed. This was definitely not going to be easy to talk about. "Okay. I used to think that if you hadn't met Raymond first, that you and I…"_

_She nodded, understanding. "Then Raymond died."_

"_Right," he agreed quietly, not wishing to be overheard by the IAB agent in the background. "And everything changed, and it is easy to get used to those boundaries."_

_She smiled knowingly and looked down. "Right." She glanced back up into Horatio's eyes and knew what he was talking about. "I'm still your brother's wife, hm?"_

_Horatio kept his expression blank. It never was easy talking about these sorts of things in general, but it was even harder when it was on the job in a hotel with a US ambassador. All the same, she knew he was screaming in his mind, "YES! EXACTLY!"_

"_It's not your fault Raymond got killed, nor mine," she continued, staring into those blank, blue eyes. "If anything, you tried harder than anyone to Raymond to be more careful."_

_He adjusted his stance, still not meeting hers. There seemed to be a certain sort of… shame there? "Then maybe I didn't try hard enough."_

_She looked at him in disbelief. "That is not true! I don't believe that."_

_The edge of a small smile crept onto his lips, but he knew it wasn't true what she said._

"_But maybe you do."_

_His eyes wandered, still not meeting her gaze._

"_Okay," she whispered. She looked down in agreement, then back up to finally see his blue eyes. "I guess I'm going to have to accept things… for now."_

_He nodded, finally smiling at these words._

_She sighed. "But I'm not going out with Stetler…" She glanced back to see him turning away, a distant gaze there._

_Horatio chuckled, as did Yelina. "He did notice that." He watched again, talking but not daring to move his lips. "By the way, he's doing it again right now." He smiled. "I'll talk to you later…"_

…..

She nodded after thinking about this. "Yes. The boundaries."

Horatio looked up. "Well, we don't have to get used to them."

"What do you mean?"

He seemed somewhat flustered at talking about this subject again. "Well, I know you are still going out with him and everything, but I wondered… we don't have to cross them."

Her breath caught her in the throat as she looked at him, confused. "What do you mean?"

"We could, um, ease into them… a little," he mumbled, leaning forward some.

Her eyes widened. "Ease into the bound… Horatio, I thought you said it would be easy to get used to those boundaries! I thought you said we…"

"I know what I said," he replied quietly, leaning forward even more. "But, Yelina, I want to… I want to cross those boundaries now. I want to be with you and Ray, Jr. I… Yelina, I love you. I just can't tell you for fear that you will… that something will happen to you."

Yelina just stared at him, disbelief clouding her. "But, Horatio… I've loved you for so long, and you've been in denial. What makes you see it now?"

He pressed his lips against hers.

Her eyes widened. She looked at him. He was deep in it now, a passionate kiss. This was… this wasn't what she had in mind with Stetler. With Raymond, for god's sake.

And she loved it so damn much.

He leaned back, and she got up. She stared him and smiled. "I need to get home. Are you going to stay here and watched Ray?"

He nodded. "You know it."

She walked out of the room and around the corner to her car. A hand was suddenly over her mouth, and she was whirled around the corner of the hospital. Her eyes widened with fear.

Stetler grinned. "You're not getting away that easily."

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_**A/N:**_** Cliffie alert! Review, please and thank you!**


	4. Death Wish

**_A/N:_ So this is a really dark chapter. Even for me.**

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4. Death Wish

Yelina's eyes widened at the sound of her former lover's voice. Yes, _former_. She wanted nothing more to do with this man of evil and hate and sadism. She wasn't ready for what he had planned for her, but it didn't matter. She was not going to go down without hurting him in someway, shape, or form. After all, he was the cause of all her problems right now. That wasn't a lie.

Her current problem, though, was how to get out of this without getting killed.

She glared up at Stetler and struggled with the hands he had grabbed her with. "What is wrong with you?" she whispered, praying her voice wouldn't be heard by Horatio. "I mean, you have seriously lost it over these past few days, and when I say lost it…"

He snapped a hand over her mouth again and dragged her to a dumping ground for the trash and other deposits. When they were behind the hospital walls, he uncovered her mouth and sighed. "Yelina, Yelina. When in the world are you ever going to learn? I love you and always will."

"That is a bunch of bullshit, and you know it!" she hissed back, trying to slap him. "Get a grip! I really couldn't care less if you loved me anymore. I love Horatio, and that's all the things you need to know." She jerked her hands away from him. "And get your damn filthy hands off of me!"

Stetler wasn't smiling anymore. He grabbed her by the shirt collar and leaned in close, his stank breath wafting all around. "So you do love Horatio," he whispered. He turned away for a moment, lifting the grip slightly. "I knew it. Ever since I first laid eyes on you in the lab, I knew you would be too good for me. I have tried so hard to give you the best, and all you do is turning me away, like I am someone who isn't even deserving of you in your eyes." He whirled back around, seeing Yelina's terrified eyes in the night sky. "But now I will make sure you love me. Now and forever."

She knew that he was going to beat her. She knew it was coming. But instead…

He kissed her firmly on the lips and forced her to the ground.

It hurt so much. She wanted to bite down on this man's tongue, but she wouldn't for fear of being slapped, beaten, or worse… raped.

Instead, she pushed him away and glared up at him. "No, Rick. I'm not ready for this. I'm really not prepared for this sort of thing yet. You've got to let me be once in a while."

Stetler finally gripped her arm and pushed it to one side, pointing a finger in her face. "I've _let_ you be alone for the past week. Now give me some love, damnit! Or so help me god…"

"You're going to what?" she smirked. "You're going to kill me?"

He punched her in the stomach. "Worse. I'm slowly going to make you end up in the hospital like your son."

Her face immediately paled over as tears began to fall from her eyes. 'Oh, dear god,' she thought miserably. 'The sadist has truly become a sadist…'

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Horatio stood in Ray's room, staring at the heart monitor the entire time. There wasn't any way he was going to take his eyes off that thing for the next few days until his nephew got any better.

He simply wanted to kick himself in the stomach. He kissed Yelina. Not on sheer force of will, not on temptation, but on the mere factor that it was impulsive. No thoughts whatsoever, just a deep impending kiss he had no idea would happen. That was probably the most legitimate reason of why she had left the room. To go home and contemplate her feelings for him.

Well, that pretty much destroyed his purpose for seeing her, huh.

He sighed. A scream was suddenly heard outside the window. Frowning, he got up and ran to the window, where a sprawled out Yelina Salas was bleeding, her arms scratched and bruised alongside her face, which was simply wet from… something or another. He didn't know if she had put up a decent fight, but that was beyond the point right now. Horatio shot out of the room and downstairs, finding the nearest nurse. She looked at him concernedly. "Lieutenant Caine?"

He pointed to the back of the hospital. "There is a woman outside, who has beaten upon by someone, and I've got no idea if she's breathing."

She immediately went into emergency rescue mode, calling for other people's help, finding a stretcher and keeping with Horatio as he showed them Yelina's body a few minutes later.

The nurse felt for a pulse on the woman.

There wasn't one.

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_**A/N:**_** Okay, so I stink. I don't know how to end this one. But I'll tell you one thing… it's bittersweet. Review, please and thank you!**


	5. Unquestioned Proposal

**_A/N:_ So this is love-dovery... somewhat.**

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**_DEDICATIONS:_ Carrro, jzcprc, Sarabear08, lunavixen, Dubblez12-35, The Fall Girl, speedfanatic05, Scorpii, tvshowaddict, Funky In Fishnet, Mtwapa, lt2, and Glimmer aka Mandy: I owe you guys so much. Thanks for reviewing and keeping this alive!**

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5. Unquestioned Proposal

He stood outside of her room, staring in like a lost puppy into someone else's house. That's how Horatio felt right now- lost, without any light on what he had. Something felt horribly wrong about all of this, just watching her sit like that in the bed. The doctors had managed to restart her heart, but that was beyond the point now. He had to know if she was going to be okay. His hands were in his pockets, fingering something he wouldn't have given anyone else but the woman in front of him, laying in the hospital bed.

The doctor walked out of the room, taking notes on her clipboard and nodding unconsciously. Horatio cleared his throat lightly, trying to get his attention. He looked up and nodded. "She'll be fine, but she's experiencing some serious trauma right now."

"Trauma? What do you mean?" he inquired, looking concerned.

He flipped to another page, scanning and reading. "Well, she, uh, she's kind of in a state of shock and despair right now, given that her attacker-"

"Stetler," he interrupted firmly.

"-gave her serious bruising to the stomach area, near raped her, and beat her just like Raymond Caine, Jr. down the hall," he continued. "Luckily, she's an adult, so she had less bruising in those areas."

Horatio looked at the man sideways. "How is she?"

The next words tore his heart. "She's going to be fine. She needs to be alone for a little while, though. After going through something like she did, it may be a little hard for her to get back up on her feet."

"I don't want her to be up on her feet," Horatio replied, taking a step to the door. "I just want to be in there with her."

Another doctor rushed up to the lieutenant, holding a clipboard. "Sir, your nephew is awake and wants to see you!"

Horatio held up a finger to Yelina's doctor. "To be continued," he told him, running down the hall with Ray's nurse, Dr. Else Monroe.

Horatio opened the door to see Ray sitting up in bed, staring at the ceiling and looked in the direction of the open door. "Uncle Horatio!" he cried.

"Ray!" he cried, walking over and scooping up what he could of his nephew into his arms. "You're okay!" He embraced the boy wholeheartedly, thanking the heavens above the Ray was going to be okay. "Oh, my god, don't scare me like that, little buddy!"

He hung his head in shame. "I'm sorry, Uncle H," he mumbled.

"Hey, there's no need to be sorry," Horatio replied incredulously, setting the boy back down on the bed. "You did what you had to do. You never need to apologize to me. I'm right here."

Ray looked up, eyes shining. "The nurse says that I can get out of bed right now!"

Horatio smiled at this. "You might want to stay in bed for a little while." He fingered his pocket again and ruffled his nephew's hair. "I have to go see you mom for a little bit."

"Sure," he replied, sliding back under the covers.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Horatio sat in the chair in Yelina's room, fingering the box he held in his hands. She was sleeping peacefully, her brown hair shuffled behind her head, her up and down motion of her chest simply soothing to both the ears and the eyes. It was now ten thirty that night, and all was quiet on the southern front of the hospital. It seemed so lonely in their without the talk of two in-denial lovers.

He looked out into the city and began speaking to himself. Out loud, but in a quiet tone.

"You asked me what made you see the fact that I love you, Yelina. I know you can't hear me, but I'm going to explain it anyway.

"There are a lot of reasons why I've been in denial. Partly because of your relationship you had with Raymond. I know you loved him as much as I did, but you seemed to enjoy his company more than mine. Every time I'd go over, you would act like I wasn't there and just chat with Raymond about the simplest things in life. I longed to be in those conversations with you. It was so hard to not confess my love for you when you already had a man.

"So instead, I wanted to be a guardian if Ray wasn't there to be with you all the time. That turned out to be all the time, Yelina. He was doing his drug work and you were at home with Ray, Jr. I couldn't just let you be by yourself with no support. So I went over to your place to be with you a great deal.

"Then I realized something. I was feeling in love with my brother's wife. I knew it wouldn't be good for us, so I began to deny my feelings of affection for you. I never wanted to have my brother angry at his family for being with the one he was supposed to be married to. You were my sister-in-law. How could I deny such a thing? Well, after he died, you began to be alone again, and I wanted to go in the love sweep.

"Stetler showed up. And I knew in that hotel that you two were going to hook up some way or another. I didn't know how, and I didn't want to interfere on a relationship you wanted to be in with him, so I began denying my feelings for you again. But when he began to hit you, I began to show more overprotection than love. I couldn't let my former sister-in-law get hurt by one of my former coworkers.

"I've loved you for so long, but I didn't get the chance to ever tell you. That's why…" Horatio's eyes filled with tears as he opened the box he had been holding for so long. "…that's why I was going to ask you to marry me tonight."

"Then why didn't you simply ask?"

He blinked. Yelina's eyes were open, but she couldn't move from all the pain in her body. She smiled at the ceiling. "I want to marry you, Horatio. But I'm not sure what Stetler would think."

Horatio rushed over to her bedside, about to press the emergency switch when she shook her head vigorously. "No one has to know that I am awake. Only you do."

He looked at her. "You mean it? You really want to marry me?"

Yelina smiled, her chocolate eyes glowing with a radiating happiness. "I do, but the ring isn't on my finger, silly."

Horatio slipped it on, kissing her lightly on the head. "Yelina Salas, will you be the one I love and cherish and marry me?"

"Oh, yes, Horatio," she replied, tears coming down. "I will. Forever."

He hugged her tightly. This was the happiest day of his life. And he wouldn't let anything ruin it.

And Stetler…

He was going to pay dearly for everything that had happened.

Because in a sense, he was the one who brought the two finally-together lovebirds under the sky of happiness and love.

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_**A/N:**_** Look, I know it's a gooey-mushy ending. But it's going to get ansty next story. I promise. And Stetler will be found. That comes, too. Thanks for reading, and enjoy your day!**

**-Shiny-san**


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